My wife and I have been looking into getting lasik done and were scheduled to do it, me this month and her next month. Yesterday after the wave scan they told her that her corneas are too thin and she would not be a canidate. They said to check back in a couple years and see if the technology has come along for her. Her corneas were around 436 microns on the left and 446 on the right. Im gonna call today and find out for sure. The doctors office never mentioned other options so I thought I would look into it myself. Would she be a canidate for epi-lasik or any other options? If so how would you find a good doctor for that, most of them dont seem to advertise for anything other than lasik. Thanks

Not real sure about her perscription but here are a few numbers off her contact boxes. Im not sure what all these mean so hope they help. BC 8.5 SPH -1.25 CYL -1.75 AX 10 (left) 180 (right) She does wear Toric lenses. She is 22 years old and nobody in her family has had eye diease. Any idea how to locate doctors that specialize in these fields, most of them just say lasik and we would like to find someone who has alot of experience. Thanks

On a purely mechanical basis, the concern with corneas being too thin does not make much sense. Only about 20 microns of tissue would be removed. Including the depth of the average (these days) Lasik flap, she would have about 300 microns of untouched corneal tissue with Lasik. That is well above the 250 minimum normally considered safe. But mechanics are not all of it.

The fact that her corneas are thinner than normal, the astigmatism is larger than her myopia, and that the astigmatism is one up-one down, may make the doctors concerned about long-term problems.

In any event, if she was to have laser vision correction surgery, a surface ablation technique like PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, or Trans-epithelial PRK does seem to make more sense.

If you visit our website's listing for Lasik doctors, you may find one our organization has certified near your location. If not, you could use our 50 Tough Questions For Your Lasik Doctor to help evaluate a potential surgeon. Even though they are are for Lasik, the questions work fine for surface ablation techniques too.